Rail lifter



Aug. 19, 1969 3,461,810 RAIL LIFTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 llllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllll Filed Nov. 21. .1967

Aug. 19., 1969 Run:

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 21, 1967 N QNRN 1 x, mm

W. JPYARD RAIL LIFTER Aug, 19, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 21, 19673,461,810 RAIL LIFTER William J. Yard, Cavan, South Australia,Australia, assignor to Australian Railway Equipment Supply CompanyProprietary Limited, Adelaide, South Australia, and Trak ChiefManufacturing Proprietary Ltd., Cavan, South Australia, Australia.

Filed Nov. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 684,702

Int. Cl. 1301!) 29/22 US. Cl. 104-7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Arail lifter for the lifting of a rail from a tie to thereby break thegrip of a spike in the tie, the rail lifter having a clamp to engage therail beneath its head and hydraulic rams to urge downwardly on the tiethereby lifting the rail from the tie.

This invention relates to a machine suitable for lifting a rail from asleeper by an amount sufiicient to break the tie spikes securing therail to the sleeper.

When the rails are to be removed from sleepers much difficulty isencountered in breaking the joint between the tie spikes and thesleepers, partly because of the growth in dimension as the tie spikesurface rusts and the consequential tight grip of the timber of thesleeper, and sometimes due to the spike head being so driven as to makeit impossible to secure a grip under the spike head. Time consumed inremoving or easing out such:spikes is considerable. Once the joint isbroken however and the tie spikes are moved, say, one quarter of aninch, it is a relatively. easy matter to lever them out of theirretaining apertures in the sleepers with simple lever means or with aspike puller. The main object of this invention therefore is to providea simple and effective machine which will lift a rail from a sleeper orin the alternative to press the sleeper from the rail, so that the tiespike is broken from the sleeper and is then readily removable. It is afurther object to provide a machine which will completely extract spikesfrom sleepers, if desired for say a complete line re-lay.

The invention may be said to consist of a rail lifter having railengaging wheels, a rail engaging clamp arranged to engage a rail whensupporting the rail lifter, and hydraulic lifting rams arranged to urgedownwardly on a sleeper when the rail is engaged by the clamp therebylifting the rail from the sleeper.

An embodiment of the invention is described hereunder in some detailwith reference to and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a rail lifter with the clamps in theirdisengaged position,

FIG. 2 is a similar view but showing the clamps engaging the rail andthe rams engaging the sleeper to lift the rail from the sleeper, and

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the machine.

According to this embodiment a rail lifter has two main portions, namelya main frame and a sub-frame 11. The main frame 10 has a pair ofbrackets 12 extending vertically, and the sub-frame 11 is pivotallycarried etween the brackets 12 on the pin 15. A sub-frame positioningram 16 which in this embodiment is a single acting hydraulic ram and istrunnion mounted at its top end between upwardly extending brackets 18while its lower end carries a pin 19 in swinging arms 20 disposedbetween and pivotally carried by brackets 21 on the frame 10 andarranged to bear downwardly on the frame 10 as the sub-frame is liftedby the cylinder 16.

The main frame 10 is provided with an engine and hydraulic pump(designated collectively as 22), and also 3,461,810 Patented Aug. 19,1969 has a pair of arms 23 hinged thereto the outer ends of the armscarrying land wheels 24 on them. The arms are carried on a plate whichis hinged between two spaced plates 25 and the land wheels can be raisedfrom the ground or lowered to the ground and locked in either one ofthese two positions by insertion of a pin (not shown). The main framealso has two pairs of rail wheels 27 which are arranged in a directiontransverse of the direction of the land wheels and are adapted to engagerails 28 of a track.

The sub-frame is arranged to be controlled in its pivotal movement bythe ram 16, (which may be spring loaded upwardly) but the hydraulic pumpwhen operated is arranged to drive the ram so that the sub-frame can belifted from or lowered to a rail of a track (FIGS. 1 and 2 respectivelyThe sub-frame 11 is provided with a bracket 29 and releasable couplingmeans (in this embodiment a shackle 30) couples the sub-frame 11 toabridge 31 forming part of the main frame 10.

The sub-frame 11 has depending therefrom a pivoted link 32 whichsuspends a rail clamp frame 34.

This rail clamp frame 34 pivotally supports two pairs of claw-like clampmembers 36 and these are each operated by a trunnion mounted clampingcylinder 37 operable to close them together or withdraw them apart. Therail clamp frame 34 also has on it a pair of hydraulic lifting rams 39the moving elements of which carry feet 40 arranged to engage the uppersurface of a sleeper (or tie) 41 as shown in FIG. 2 when it is desiredto lift the rail from the sleeper.

The existence of a pivoted coupling 32 makes the device operable underadverse conditions, for example when the rail clamp frame 34 engages anuneven surface of a sleeper. The pin 19 on the movable arm 20 allows thedevice to be used on rails of varying sizes without straining the frame.If desired the clamping cylinder 37 and the lifting rams 39 may beoperated from a single valve, or they may be separately operated.

In order to reduce pressure build-up in the conduits (not shown) whichsupply pressure fluid to the cylinder 37 when the rams 39 operate, thecylinder 37 is provided with a pressure responsive pilot holding valve45 in a conduit 46 which extends between the ends of the cylinder 37 andcloses to lock the cylinder when (as shown in FIG. 2) the jaws 36 areclosed and pressure is released.

If drive for the rail engaging wheels is used (as shown in thisembodiment) the main frame 10 supports a seat 50 and a post 51 whichcarries the operating valves 52.

What I claim is:

1. A rail lifter comprising a main frame, rail engaging wheelssupporting the main frame, a sub-frame, hinge means coupling thesub-frame to the main frame, for pivoting about a substantiallyhorizontal axis disposed substantially parallel to the rails, asub-frame positioning ram operatively coupling the sub-frame to the mainframe and being operative to effect relative pivotal movementtherebetween', a clamp frame having a rail engaging clamp thereon, apivoted link suspending the clamp frame from the sub-frame, means on therail engaging clamp operative to urge the clamp into engagement with arail when supporting the rail lifter, and hydraulic lifting ramsdisposed one on each side of a rail and operative between the sub-frameand a sleeper or tie and arranged to urge downwardly on the sleeper ortie when the rail is engaged by the clamp to thereby lift the rail fromthe sleeper or tie.

2. A rail lifter according to claim 1 wherein the hydraulic lifting ramsare carried by the rail clamp frame.

3. A rail lifter comprising a main frame, rail wheels supporting themain frame and adapted to guide it for movement along a railroad track,a sub-frame hinged to the main frame, a sub-frame positioning ramoperable between the sub-frame and the main frame, a rail clamp framehinged to the sub-frame, rail engaging clamps hinged to the rail clampframe, clamping cylinders operable to open or close the rail engagingclamps, lifting rams carried by the rail clamp frame, a swinging armpivotally connected at one end to the sub-frame positioning ram and atits other end to the main frame, and arranged to bear against the mainframe as the sub-frame is lifted by the positioning ram.

4. A rail lifter according to claim 3 further comprising a pivoted linkcoupled to the rail clamp frame and to the sub-frame, the rail clampframe being suspended from the sub-frame by the pivoted link.

5. A rail lifter according to claim 3 further comprising foot members onthe movable elements of the lifting rams, the foot members beingengageable against the upper surface of a sleeper or tie when the clampsengage a rail carried on the sleeper or tie beneath its head.

- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1956 Sublett, l047 5/1968Plasser et al.' 104--7 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner R. A.BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner

